Electrically actuated combination look



(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S. L. G. KNOX. ELEGTRIGALLY AGTUATED COMBINATION LOOK.

No. 534,650. Patented Feb. 26, 1895.

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(No Model.\

' 5 Sheets-Sheet 3.

, S.L.G.K'N0X. v ELEGTRIGALLY AGTUATED COMBINATION LOCK.

Patented Feb. 26, 1895.

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WITNESSES 1 L; INVEN'gOF 6 6M No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 4'.

S. L. G. KNOX. BLEGTRIGALLY A'GTUA'I'ED COMBINATION LOCK. No. 534,650.

- Patented Feb. 26, 1895.

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(No Model.)

5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

S- vL. G. KNOX. ELEUTRIGALLY AGTUATBD COMBINATION LOOK.

Patented Feb. 26. 1895.

FIG. 9

' WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT ()EFICE.

SAMUEL LIPPINOOTT GRISWOLD KNOX, OF CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY.

ELECTRlCALLY-ACTUATED COMBINATION-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo, 534,6 50, dated February 26, 1 895.

Application filed April 13, 1894.

X To all whom it may concern.-

can be performed.

"agency of electricity, Without the intervenwhich may be operated electrically from a Be it known that I, SAMUEL LIPPINCOTT GRISWOLD KNOX, a citizen of the United States, residingin the city and county of Gamden and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrically Actuated Combination Locks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to looks for burglarproof safes and vaults, in which any preferred form of combination or permutation lock-mechanism is combined with automatic bolt operating mechanism of any selected character,and in Which,-both of the foregoing mechanisms being contained Within the safe,the combination is set up through the tion of mechanical connections, through the medium of electric circuits between a dial and combination-lock-controlling mechanism located at a point remote from and exterior to the safe itself, on the one hand, and electric devices contained within the safe and combined with both the lock-mechanism and. the bolt-operating mechanism aforesaid, on the other.

- It is the object of my invention to construct a simple and effectual lock of the foregoing character, which may be placed on the inside of the safe or vault doors or withimthe safe or other compartment closed by them, and

point at any desirecLdistance from and exterior to the safe, without the requirement of perforations through the safe doors, and Without the necessity of awaitinga previously determined hour before the action of unlocking Mechanismconvenientlyembodyingmyimprovements .is represented in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter described, the particular subject-matter which I claim as novel being definitely set forth in the claiming clauses of this specification.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a diagrammatic View of a convenient arrangement of circuits the employment of which my invention necessitates,showing also,partly in dummy representation, the various elements which are included in said circuits. Fig. 2 is a front elevational view, sectional in planes of the dotted lines OC-.I6 of Figs. 3 and Serial No, 507,388. (No model.)

taken from the left hand side, of the devices represented in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. Figs. 6, 7,

and 8, are perspective details of a form of brush which I find it convenient to employ with the commutator of the lock motor. Fig. 9 is an elevational view looking from the rear, and taken in planes of the dotted lines y-y in Figs. 3 and 5, of the anchor escapement, tumbler train, and fence lever,

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Before describing in detail-either the mechanisms contained within the safe through the direct instrnmentality of which the combination of the lock tumblers are occasioned and controlled, or the mechanisms exterior to the safe and in electrical association therewith,-

it is proper to egrplain that there is contained within the safe an electric motor which I term the lock motor, and the shaft of the armature of which transmits, through atrain of gearing, motion in the desired directions to the tumbler-driving disk or equivalent tumbler-actuating device;-that the direction of revolution of the armature of this lockmotor is controlled at will bya currentreverser at a point of operation exterior to the safe;that the speed of revolution of the armature of this lock-motor in either direction is under the positive control of an electrically-actuated anchor-escapement mechanism under the automatic control of a constantly and automatically-operating currentreverser located at a point of operation exterior to the safe;that the bolt-operating mechanism, which may be of any well-known character, is thrown into action by a tripping magnet which is automatically energized,by the completion, through the fall of the fence into the notches of the tumblers when the combination has been set up, of a. circuit within which said fence and tripping magnet are included;and that the dial and dial index of the combination-lock-controlling mech anism are located at a point of operation exterior to the safe, the index, which may be mechanically actuated, being preferably in gear with an electric-motor which I term the dial motor and the field magnets of which are preferably included in the circuit of the field magnets of the-lock motor, a circuit adapted to be closed or opened at the will of the operator from a point exterior to the safe.

In the drawings, A is an inclosing case, of any preferred form and material, and located upon the inside of the door to be locked or at other convenient locality within the compartment closed by said door. Within said case are contained, in suitable assemblage, the lock motor, the combination lock, the gearing connective of said motor and lock, the anchor escapement for controlling the armature of the lock-motor, and the electro-magnets for actuating said escapement. 'Within this casing are led the conductors forming certain of the circuits hereinafter mentioned. The casing is, of course, unessential, and simply employed as a convenient means of protecting the elements referred to from undesired inspection or manipulation.

B, B, are the field magnets of the electricmotor which I term the lock-motor. They are of any preferred construction according to the character of motor employed, and, as will be understood from a reference to Fig. 1,

are included in the field circuit indicated by i the conductors b, a circuit grounded at E and E, and including the battery B or other source of electricity. Through this field circuit the current flows in aconstant direction indicated by the arrows applied to the conductors forming it.

13 is a circuit closing key.

0 is the revoluble armature of the lock-motor, D the commutator, and c the armature shaft. This shaft 0 is housed in suitable bearings, and its end which projects beyond the commutator is conveniently equipped with a shaft pinion a, being the motor pinion of the train connective of the armature and the lock tumblers, and which train conveniently consists of the toothed spur wheel 0 in gear with said shaft pinion c, of the spur wheel pinion c concentric and revolving with said toothed spur wheel 0 and engaged with the spur wheel a, which I term the tumbler spur wheel. This tumbler spur wheel is connected with the tumbler-driving dish F, upon the spindle f of the tumblers F F F g-the latter typically illustrated in the drawings as disks having each a notch, respectively designated f'f f in its periphery, into which the usual fence 9 is adapted to be engaged when the tumblers have been rotated to bring all of their notches into alignment.

The fence 9 is conveniently supported upon the outer end portion of a fence or contact lever G, pivoted at g, and the free extremity g of which is adapted when the fence is in the tumbler notches to complete a shunt circuit of low resistance through the conductor b',which, as shown in Fig. 1, branches from the higher resistance field circuit 1), b,through the conductor 1) being a part of or connected in any preferred manner with the fence lever but insulated from the fence,through the conductor 6 to the tripping magnet H of the bolt-operating mechanism,through the coil of said magnet,and through the conductor 19 back to the ground at E through the conductor b of the field circuit. This shunt circuit through the conductors b 17 b tripping magnet H, and conductor 1), is, of course, open when the fence lever is, as shown in Fig. 1, raised by the riding of its fence on the peripheries of the tumblers prior to the setting up of the combination, and is only closed when the fence is in the notches.

When the combination is set up and the fence within the tumbler notches, the tumbler lock mechanism, the train of gearing, and the armature of the lock motor are all at rest, and no appreciable current is flowing through the field magnets of said lock motor.

The automatic bolt-operating mechanism employed, may be of any preferred character, and I have therefore simply typically illus trated in Fig. 1 an iron bell-crank stop-lever 71, adapted to be deflected by being attracted to the core of the tripping magnet H when the latter is energized by the closing of the shunt circuit above described, and by its deflection adapted to set free the bolt-releasing lever h normally locked by said stop-lever h in the position represented in said Fig. 1, and which when released sets free the mechanism the release of which in turn sets in action the bolt-shooting devices which happen to be employed.

The armature O of the lock motor, with its commutator D, and brushes I, which latter, as shown in Fig. 2, and in Figs. 6, '7, and 8, are in the form of levers pivoted at 'L', and conveniently caused to operate upon the segments of the commutator by the action of extended spiral or other springs t' is included in an armature circuit composed, as shown in Fig. 1, of the conductors d, which, leading from ground at E include the current reverser, typified by the switch J, the battery 0*, or other source of electricity, the brushes, commutator and armature of the dial motor, all at the point exterior to the safe from which the lock is to be operated ,-and, after, as stated, including the armature of the lock motor, conveniently merge into the conductor G of the field circuit and ground at E.

In order to set up the desired combination of the tumblers of the lock-mechanism, it is necessary to be able to revolve the armature of the lock-motor and in correspondence therewith the arrnature of the dial-motorin either direction at will,-and this is done by reversing the armature current through the aforesaid armature circuit (1, the reversal being conveniently accomplished by the following contrivances:

K, Fig. 1, is an electric motor of any preferred character, which I term the dial-motor, the field magnets of which are, as has been stated, included in the field circuit 1), b,the armature of which is, as stated, included in the armature circuit (1, d,and the armature shaft is of which is extended, and, by any preferred mechanical connection which it is not necessary to illustrate, geared with the arbor Z of the index P of the dial L, the movement of which index indicates to the operator the correspondent movement of the tumbler-driving disk and of particular tumblers of the combination lock mechanism in the safe,the relation of rotation of the shaft of the dial motor to that of the spindle of the tumblerdriving disk, being predetermined and calculated to an appropriate correspondence.

When the current reverser typified by the switch J, is in the position indicated in full lines in Fig. 1, the current through the armature circuitd will be flowing in a given direction and the armatures of the dial motor and the lock-motor will be revolving in a corresponding direction,'while the index and the particulartumbler then being rotated to bring its notch in registry with the fence, will be moving in predetermined correspondence, the index under the actuation of the armature of the dial motor, and the tumbler under the actuation of that of the lock -motor acting through the tumbler train.

When the current-reverser J is shifted into the position indicated in dotted lines, the current will be fiowing'through the armature circuit in the opposite direction, and the movement of all of the parts will be reversed. The

reversal is, therefore, made at the will of the operator, under the guidance of the index which is known to be moving in consonance and correspondence with the movement of given tumblers of the lock-mechanism.

As has been mentioned, the dial-motor K is simply a convenient device for actuating a rotatable shaft with which the index is geared, and any mechanical device manually or mechanically controlled will therefore perform the office of said dial-motor and constitute its equivalent in the assemblage of elements composing my apparatus as an entirety. When, however, an electric-motor is employed for the actuation of the dial the rotation of its armature should be under the control of a brake mechanism, in order that the travel of the index will not be too fast for prompt and accuratestoppage and reversal. It being essential that the revolution in either direction of the armature of the lock-motor, the consequent speed of driving of the train to the tumblers, and the rotation of said tumblers, should be under accurate control, I resort to the employment of the anchor escapement already referred to, which is conveniently of the following construction.

M is an escapement lever fulcrumed at m, the anchor head m of which is provided with correspondingly-pointed oppositely facing pallets m m adapted to alternately engage the symmetrically-pointed teeth at of the starshaped escape-wheel N, fixed upon the shaft 0 of the armature of the lock-motor in proper positonfor engagement. Obviously, if the escapement lever be fixed in any given position the rotation of the armature of the lockmotor will be prevented. Obviously, also, the predetermined regular oscillation of said lever will permit of the regular, although controlled, intermittent rotation of said armature in either direction. This regulated uniform oscillation of the escapement lever is conveniently effectuated by the action of a pair of oppositely-disposed electro magnets 0 0*, which I term the escapement magnets, between the oppositely facing cores of which a keeper m ofsoft iron on the lower extremity of the escapement lever is disposed, and to ward the cores of one or the other of which magnets said keeper is electrically attracted and the lever correspondingly deflected, accordingly as one or the other of said escapement magnets is energized by the passage of the current. The alternate energizing of these magnets is conveniently effectuated through a circuit which. I, for clearness of designation, term the escapement circuit, and through an automaticallyacting currentshifting or circuit-alternating device, which may be of any preferred construction and conveniently a Pixii commutator.

The escapement circuit is conveniently composed, of a conductor 19, which may, as shown'in Fig. 1, be a branch of the field circuit b, b, and which terminates in abrush p treading centrally and alternately upon both sets of segments of a Pixii commutator P mounted upon and rotating with the shaft of the armature of the dial motor;--of a conductor 10' leading from a brush 19 disposed at one side of the commutator P, to and through the escapement magnet 0*, and thence, conveniently, leading into and through the condoctor I) of the' field circuit to the ground at E;-and of a conductor 19 leading from a brush 19 disposed at the other side of the commutator P, to and through the escapement magnet 0,-and thence, conveniently, leading into and through the conductor b of the field circuit to the ground at E;

When the field circuitb is closed bythe key B and the current is flowing through the fields of both motors, a sufficient amount of said current will pass through the branch conductorp to the branch p of the currentalternating commutator P, and in the position of its parts indicated in Fig. 1, in which the brushes p and 19 are both in tread upon the same segment, being q, will pass through the brush p and the conductor 19 to the escapement magnet O, energize said magnet, and occasion the deflection of the escapement lever M into the position represented in Fig.

2 with the result of permit-ting a given rotation of the escape-wheel equal to the distance between two of its adjacent teeth, and a correspondent rotation of the lock-motor armature and actuation of the tumbler train. The instant that the current-alternating com mutator P has performed such further rotary movement as to occasion the tread of the brushes p and 13* upon the same opposite segment, being q the circuit will be closed through the conductors p and p and completed through conductors p and p to the escapement magnet O so as to energize it,- the magnet through the breaking of the circuit through 1910 being simultaneously demagnetized,and occasion the reverse deflection of the escapement lever or that represented in Fig. 9, with the result of permitting a still further, rotary advance of the escape- Wheel and lock-motor armature, and actuation of the tumbler train correspondent to the advance and actuation last above referred to. The continuing rotation of the commutator will, as is obvious, occasion the continued alternation of the current with the result of alternately magnetizing the escapement magnets and of occasioning the continued uniform oscillation of the escapement lever.

The commutator described and represented is convenient for the purpose indicated, but other devices operative to the same result may obviously be substituted in its stead.

Having now described apparatus in which my invention may be conveniently embodied, it is proper for me to add that while I have particularized certain conductors as arranged in certain ways to constitute certain circuits, yet that the arrangement of the conductors to the establishment of particular circuits is not of the essence of the invention, and that the circuits may be arranged or constituted in any convenient manner at the will of the constructer, and may each as to its every co mponent be independent of conductors which compose portions of other circuits.

The circuit closer l3 and the current reversing switch J represented, are simply typical of any preferred form of devices operative to the same respective results.

Having now described my invention, I claim 1. In an electrically-actuated combination lock,the following elements in combination an electric lock motor havinga rotatable shaft provided with a scape Wheel,a combination lock,gearing connective of said motor and said lock,--electrically-actuated escapement mechanism for controlling the speed of the lock motor,bolt-operating mechanism,-a series of circuits leading from the outside to the inside of the said safe or compartment and including sources of electricity and the mechanisms aforesaid,-and a circuit-controlling mechanism, and indicating mechanism, both included inthe circuits aforesaid,-substantially as set forth.

2. In an electrically-actuated combination lock, the following elements incombination: an electric lock motor having a rotatable shaft provided with a scape wheel,a combination lock,gearing connective of said motor and said lock,-an escapement operative in connection with the armature of the lock motor and under the positive control of an electromagnet, for controlling the speed of said armature,bolt-operating mechanism,-a series of circuits leading from the outside to the inside of the safe or compartment and including sources of electricity and the mechanisms aforesaid,and a circuit-controlling mechanism, and indicating mechanism, both included in the circuits aforesaid,substantially as set forth.

3. In an electrically-actuated combination lock, the following elements in combination an electric lock motor,-a combination lock,

gearing connective of said motor and said lock,electrically actuated mechanism for controlling the speed of the lock motor,and bolt operating mechanism,all contained Within the safe or compartment to which the lock is applied;circuit-controlling mechanism and indicating mechanism located at a point exterior to the safe but included in a series of circuits all leading to the inside of the safe and including sources of electricity, namely, first, acircuit including the field magnets of lhelock-motor; second,acircuitincluding the armature of said motor; third, a circuit including the fence of the combination lockand which is completed when said fence is in action; fourth, a circuit including the boltoperating mechanism; and, fifth, a circuit including the mechanism for controlling the speed of the lock-motor,substantially as set forth.

4. In an electrically-actuated combination lock, the following elements in combination an electric lock motor the revoluble armature of which is connected by a train of gearing with the tumblers of a combination lock,a fence operative with said tumblers and included in a circuit which is automatically closed when the fence is engaged with the tumbler notches,-a scape-wheel upon the shaft of the armature of the lock-motor,an escapement lever operative in conjunction with said scape-wheel and as to its free extremity provided with a keeper in range to be controlled by either of a pair of oppositely disposed electro-magnets adapted to be alternately energized,said pair of oppositely-disposed electro-magnets operative upon the escapement lever,and bolt-operating mechanism,all contained within the safe or compartment to which the lock'is applied ;and a series of circuits leading from the outside to the inside of the said safe or compartment and including sources of electricity and the mechanisms aforesaid;-and a circuit controlling mechanism,and indicating mechanism,both located at a point exterior to the safe but included in the circuits aforesaid; substantially as set forth.

IIO

5. In an electrically-actuated combination lock,the following elements in combination an electric lock motor the revoluble armature .of which is connected by a train of gearing with the tumblers of a permutation lock,a fence operative with said tumblers and included in a circuit which is automatically closed when the fence is engaged with the tumbler notches,-a scape-wheel upon the shaft of the armature of the lock-motor,an escapement lever operative in conjunction with said scape-wheel and as to its free extremity provided with a keeper in range to be controlled by either of a pair of oppositelydisposed electro-magnets adapted to be alternately energized,said pair of oppositely disposed electro-magnets operative upon the escapement lever,-and bolt-operating mechanism,all contained within the safe or compartment to which the lock is applied;a series of circuits leading from the outside to the inside of said safe or compartment and includin g sources of electricity and the mechanisms aforesaidg-indicating mechanism comprising a dial, an index, and a motor for the same ;-a constantly-operating automatic current-alternator connected with said dial motor;and a currentreverser and currentc1oser,all located outside of the safe and operative in conjunction with said circuits,- substantially as and for the purpose specified.

6; In an electrically-actuated combination lock, the following elements in combination a combination lock,a motor for said lock having a rotatable shaft provided with a scapewheel,gearing connective of said motor and said lock,-and an electrically-controlled escapement lever operative in conjunction with the scape-wheel,substantially as set forth.

7. In an electrically actuated combination lock, the following elements in combination: a combination lock,a motor for-said lock having a rotatable shaft provided with a scapewheel,-gearing connective of said motor and said lock,--electrically actuated mechanism for controlling the speed of the lock motor,- and bolt-operating mechanism,-all contained within the safe or compartment to which the lock is applied ;-a series of circuits leading from the outside to the inside of the said safe or compartment and including sources of electricity and the mechanisms aforesaid;-and a circuit-controlling mechanism,and indicating mechanism,both located at a point exterior to the safe but included in the circuits. aforesaid;-substantially as set forth.

In testimony that-I claim the foregoing as my invention I have hereunto signed my name this 27th day of March, A. D. 1894.

SAMUEL LIPPINCOTT GRISWOLD KNOX. 

